There simply aren’t enough superlatives to properly acknowledge the contribution Deep Purple has made to rock music. Having sold more than 100 million albums and filled global arenas for decades, there’s little wonder that the respected British radio station Planet Rock named the group the ‘5th Most Influential Band Ever’, whilst VH1 ranked them #22 on its ‘Greatest Artists of Hard Rock’ list. Additionally, Deep Purple was given the ‘Legend Award’ at the 2008 World Music Awards and, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. These guys truly are ‘rock royalty’.
With a body of work spanning seven decades, Deep Purple has helped pioneer and define the hard rock genre while progressively moving into new areas, both keeping their sound fresh and attracting new fans to the legions who have remained loyal since the band’s inception.
Known as one of the hardest working bands ever, Purple has released 6 studio albums since 1996 alone and has toured globally since forming in 1968 with little rest. In 2007 (almost 40 years after being formed), the band performed 40 dates in France to an award-winning audience of 150,000. Additionally, this past summer the band partnered with fellow hard rockers ‘Judas Priest’ and embarked on a wildly successful 25 city tour across the US and Canada!
Purple has stayed true to its musical roots taking from an eclectic mix of styles to create a distinctive sound that defines the band today, but which in turn, has created a legacy that very few bands could ever hope to replicate. The band has written and produced so many “classic,” well-known songs, that Purple’s audience therefore ranges widely in age and background – something the band has embraced and caters to with its concert setlists.
Deep Purple’s latest album, “Whoosh!”, follows their worldwide chart-topping albums “inFinite” (2017) and “NOW What?!” (2013). For the third time, Deep Purple joined forces with producer Bob Ezrin, who has worked with the likes of KISS, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper and numerous other international superstars. Together they created the most versatile album in the history of their collaboration.
Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Steve Morse and Don Airey continue to travel the scope of hard rock — the textures and nuances of their recent works are anything but thudding re-treads. They “stretched out in all directions” without any limitation, letting their creativity go.
“Deep Purple is putting the Deep back into Purple,” was the half-joking motto in the studio after the first songs created made it clear that Ezrin and Purple were on a path to creating an album pushing the boundaries of time, while voicing their resentment about the current situation of the world and addressing all generations.
“We’ve included everything that made the whole band smile, including Bob Ezrin. We’ve always enjoyed making music and having the incredible luxury of a loyal audience.”
– Steve Morse